Sam Mellinger

None

Mike Anderson hasn’t done anything wrong, exactly. The speculation about him jumping from Missouri to Arkansas is mostly out of his control, and besides all that is nothing more than hooey according to the excellent Mike DeArmond.

But all of that is also besides the point. Anderson could’ve done a better job of knocking down speculation. He said the right things, like, “I’m a Missouri Tiger” and “I want to retire here,” which is pretty good, but not as good as “I am not interested in Arkansas or any other job and there’s nothing that can be done to change my mind and if you don’t believe me I’ll promise right here in front of the world that if I take another job I’ll not only repay the fine people of Missouri every cent I’ve earned since I arrived but I’ll also walk barefoot to my new place,” for instance.

But would any of that even matter?

We are a nation of jaded sports fans, and we’ve come by that honestly. We’ve been lied to, we’ve been spun, we’ve been misled, and a lot of it has come from college coaches trying to downplay interest in other jobs.

Nick Saban is the most famous and egregious example, but there’s also Billy Gillespie (who was talking to at least one other school when he left Texas A&M for Kentucky), Tommy Tuberville (who said the only way he’d leave Mississippi was “in a pine box” just a few days before leaving for Auburn in a moving van), and Bobby Petrino (who said Louisville was “the place I want to be” about a week before interviewing at LSU), among many others.

And, look. Nobody should endorse lying, especially from college coaches who are supposed to be solid people and role models and authority figures for impressionable kids* but you can almost see why it happens.

* Hey, stop laughing!

Most everyone, in most every situation, will act in their own best self interest. College coaches get fired, sometimes by administrators who recently pledged loyalty. College kids lie, sometimes about what school they’re going to.

So we’ve heard it all before, which brings us back to Mike Anderson. There’s really not much he can say to make everyone believe he won’t take the Arkansas job, nothing anyone can say, really, except for the Arkansas athletic director announcing a different hire.

And even then, the speculation will come back the next time a job opens that people might think Anderson would take.

Comments

1. 

   Mark Peavy

   1 year, 2 months ago

   “College coaches get fired, sometimes by administrators who recently pledged loyalty.” And sometimes major league baseball managers get fired, even by administrators who only the day before said “He’s exactly what our organization needs at this point in time.”

   But, there are worse things in the word than being one of those coaches who get fired and then walk away with a seven-figure termination package. I might not enjoy getting fired, but at least I could be comfortable in my misery.

2. 

   Ed jones

   1 year, 2 months ago

   The notion that Anderson in a contract year, shouldn’t do everything he can within reason (he is WELL within ‘reason’) to get paid as much as he should is a very sophomoric notion. Sorry but I call it as I see it.

3. 

   Brad H

   1 year, 2 months ago

   Smellinger is obviously just another KU front-running homer around here.

4. 

   Josh Linn

   1 year, 2 months ago

   “The notion that Anderson in a contract year”

   In 2009 he signed a 7 year extension. Of course he can always look to be paid more or have the contract rewritten or whatever, but there’s no way this is a contract year unless I’m seriously misinformed. I think the (small so far) backlash I’ve heard along those lines is people don’t want to have this type of thing every year and are interpreting it as a money grab.

   I don’t know if there’s a ton to that angle here, it’s not like you get much more legitimate history with a school than he has with Arkansas. Right or wrong it won’t go away until Arkansas hires whoever they hire.

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